Monday, June 4, 2012

Jay Carney's Focus Pocus; Obama's Focus Locus

Carney was asked at today’s press briefing about Democrats’ rumblings of concern that the economy could hurt not only Obama’s re-election chances, but the party’s chances in the House and Senate.

“The president is focused far less on his job than on the jobs of the American people,” Carney said. “That’s what he works on every day. That is what drives all of the economic proposals that he has put forward. That is what has driven him from the beginning — from the time he decided to run for the Senate and run for the presidency.”

Carney said Obama “takes a long view on all of these things.”

“Is it good or bad for any candidate’s prospects in November? That’s — that’s not why he got into this.”

It would appear Carney managed to say all that with a straight face.

But seriously, is there anyone who believes him? Even Obama provides evidence that it's not true.

Flashback: President Obama, asked about rising gas prices, immediately answers that he cares about how it affects Americans' walletshis re-election chances:

Ed Henry, FOX News: Your critics will say on Capitol Hill that you want gas prices to go higher because you have said before that will wean the American people off fossil fuels onto renewable fuels. How do you respond to that?

President Obama: Ed, just from a political perspective, do you think the President of the United States going into re-election wants gas prices to go up higher? Is that -- is there anybody here who thinks that makes a lot of sense?